BOULDER, CO – OCTOBER 30: Spencer Dinwiddie, of The University of Colorado basketball team, practices with teammates on campus in Boulder, October 30, 2013. The team prepares for the upcoming college basketball season. (Photo By RJ Sangosti/The Denver Post)

Of all the decisions Spencer Dinwiddie will make in his life, mulling over whether to leave the University Colorado and declare for this summer’s NBA draft or stay for his senior season with the Buffaloes will be one of his easiest.

While digging for facts to make an informed decision, he likely will find that returning to CU makes the most sense.

The NBA likes Dinwiddie. He is a 6-foot-6 point guard — what team doesn’t like a tall playmaker? — with a superior handle, the ability to create his own shot and work effectively out of pick-and-roll situations. He’s an improving defensive player with good lateral quickness — though he needs more growth there, part of which will come from increased effort. His length already creates problems for opposing perimeter players.

Conversations with NBA scouts have made it clear that Dinwiddie is on their radar and would have started out as a late first-round draft pick with the opportunity to rise on the ladder.

His ACL injury, suffered Jan. 12 in Seattle, ruined all of that, but not necessarily because of what you’re thinking.

Dinwiddie will have to prove his health, no doubt. Few, if any, teams will think about taking a chance on a player who is a shell of what he once was. Especially when the player wasn’t a lock to be a lottery pick.

But Dinwiddie won’t get to prove it in workouts, and that’s his biggest issue. If a player can’t work out for scouts, coaches and general managers, there’s no opportunity to make a good impression before the draft. Dinwiddie already entered this season needing to show the necessary growth in his game that would have made him a candidate to be a first-round pick.

Meanwhile, other prospects will be out there pounding the hardwood. General managers could fall in love with one or more, and the out-of-sight, out-of-mind Dinwiddie would get squeezed out and fall into the second round. There’s no guarantee of anything — money, playing time, even a place on a team — if you’re drafted in the second round.

No player wants that.

Returning to CU would give Dinwiddie time to recover from his knee surgery and get back into form without the pressure of trying to stay in the NBA. He led the Buffs in scoring as a sophomore, averaging 15.3 points. This season as a junior, he averaged a team-high 14.7 points in 17 games.

Nuggets forward Quincy Miller suffered an ACL injury during his senior season in high school and said it wasn’t until he was coming into this season — nearly three years later — that he felt completely recovered.

Dinwiddie told The Denver Post’s Tom Kensler that he will take a couple of weeks to make a decision. Dinwiddie could wait until April 27, if he wanted. That’s the deadline for college players to declare for the NBA draft.

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